How did you first find out about bariatric surgery and what were your initial impressions of it?

I've known about it since it first started several yrs ago. I just lost a g/f from a bye-pass she had done several years ago. Complations followed her throught out it all. That scared me but I knew all of the weight surgeries have came so far in these past years. She looked horrible the last time I seen her and I thought do I really want to take a chance on looking like that..but nobody is the same so I thought what do i have to lose but weight..so I put myself in my doctors' hands.

Describe your experience with getting insurance approval for surgery. What advice, if any, do you have for other people in this stage?

The first time it was a nightmare,but then the second time around it wasn't that bad. I just wished i'd known before hand that I'd need proof of all the things that I had tried before to lose my weight. Trying to collect all of that was a real pain but it has to be done to go on. If I'd known I needed all of those things the first time then I would have had them for the second time.

What was your stay in the hospital like? How long where you there? What things are most important to bring?

To be honest the staff seemed to know very little about bariatric patients. I had several complations that caused me to have to stay almost 3weeks. Plus after i was home I had to be put back in because of more trouble. If you're having bariatric surgery make sure about the aftercare in the hospital you going to be in. It's scarey when most of your nurses are asking you what do they do because they've had no or very little training with your type of operation. Wish I had checked..

Did you have any complications from the surgery? If so, how did you deal with them?

I had several infections none stop. Even after coming home with a pic-line and 2 drain tubes I still got infection which put me back in. The operation went fine but my body had the trouble on fightening off the infections. So far no more infections but still fightening on to be able to eat almost a year n a half later but hopefully this I will overcome!

In the weeks after you got your surgery date, how did you feel? How did you cope with any anxiety you might have felt?

Well because of all my problems with infections I felt really bad. I wanted to sleep all of the time so I didn't have to face knowing if I moved wrong the infection in my stomach would burst through instead of draining into all my padding I had to wear to cover my incission site.

Describe your first few weeks home from the hospital. What should people expect from this period?

Everybody is different so it's hard to say. My time was harder because of all my complations. I've talked to so many that had a real great recovery time and had few or no complations. I do believe though that EVERYTHING that could or might be able to happen after a surgery should be told. I know you're told that there can be infection but that needs to be explained futher in detail so people know and won't be a scared as I was through all of it.

How far did you travel to have your surgery? (If far, how did this affect your aftercare?)

I'm about 50 miles from where I had it done. i don't have a car of my own so i had to rely on my daughter and it was hard at times because of her work. I wasn't able to make it to classes afterwards and my small town offers nothing in this line of aftercare. But i make it to my Dr. appointments so thats good.

Please describe in detail what things you could and couldn't eat in the weeks and months following surgery. What foods have been off limits? Please explain how your dietary tolerance changed week-by-week, and then month-by-month since surgery.

I've never really been able to eat because of throwing everything back up. For a while I could eat eggs,cottage cheese,pudding,some cream soups,yougart..basically anything that had nothing that you had to chew up. Still til this day I live on protein shakes or anything liquid. I've tried pureeing somethings but they don't stay down so i stay with I know will.

What was your actvity level in the days and weeks after surgery?

I had trouble because walking was a chore for me due to a wreck where my my knees were pinned under the dash but as time has went on and I've dropped close to 200# I've found that I can walk futher but still it's hard. Until both knees and one of my hips are replaced I'll have trouble but i'm not giving up.

What vitamins and/or dietary supplements have you taken since your surgery?

Everything I think..lol I take a monthly B-12 shot,a high potency multivitamin/multmineral supplement,a super B complex+C,calcium and C. Plus a protein shake so I can get at least 100grams of protein a day because my level is always so low.

What side effects (nausea, vomiting, sleep disturbace, dumping, hair loss etc.) were worse for you? For how long after surgery did they persist? How did you cope with them?

Vomiting still to this day and my hair loss. It's so thin in spots that my scalp is just bare. I'm still coping with both..

What was the worst part about the entire bariatric surgery process?

So far just trying to eat without throwing up plus losing my hair because of it..

What aftercare support group/program do you have? How helpful/important is this?

I've relied on myself and my daughter and mother. They have both been wonderful through out this whole thing. It's been very hard on my daughter but I couldn't have asked for better support. I can't thank each enough..

What is your scar like? Is this what you expected?

It crooked..lol Not big as of yet but I'm getting ready for a hernia re-repair and tummy tuck so I was told that my scar wil be quiet long..but it's just a scar and I can live with that but my weight could have killed me. I will say though that it was really creepy waking up to find purple glue holding my stomach together!! Nobody told me there wouldn't be staples or stitches..

Please describe any plateau experiences you have had since surgery.

Right now my weight seems to be on a holding pattern but I was told this might or would happen. I'm ok with it because i know my weight isn't going back on and I'm alright with my weight at this point. It's just all the hanging skin that bugs me and being on the insurance I am they won't cover anything but a tummy tuck.

Do you notice people treating you any differently now?

Yes and it's really sad. I'm still the very same person I was when I weighed in at 401..but dropping pounds made me different in other peoples eyes i guess. Why is that? Before it's like if they touched me my fat might jump onto them..and it might sound bad..you know at times i wish it had